Chapter 10 - THE HOUSE CHANGEDClaire moved out permanently.
The divorce began.
Sophie asked whether we had to leave too.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because this is your home.”
She frowned.
“Mine?”
“In a complicated legal way.”
“Do I own the fridge?”
“Please don’t start charging me rent.”
She laughed.
That laugh had been missing.
Then she asked something more serious.
“Can we change my room?”
“What do you want?”
“All Mommy’s stuff back.”
We found what Claire had hidden.
Photographs in storage bins.
Emily’s scarf inside a locked suitcase.
Birthday cards.
A quilt.
A framed watercolor Emily painted badly during chemo.
Sophie loved it.
We put everything back.
Not like a shrine.
Like history.
Then Sophie made one addition.
A photograph of Maria.
And one of Rebecca.
I looked at her.
“Family wall?”
“Yes.”
“What about me?”
She pointed.
My photo was at the bottom.
“Why am I down there?”
May you like
“You’re tall.”
Apparently that made sense.
